Spurs rookie to play close to home

LOS ANGELES — If you head West on Interstate 10 from Riverside, Calif., considered the far Eastern edge of the Los Angeles metroplex, it’s just 55 miles to the off-ramp that leads straight to Staples Center, site of this afternoon’s Game 3 of the Spurs-Clippers Western Conference semifinal playoff series.

A small caravan of vehicles carrying some of Kawhi Leonard’s closest relatives and friends will make the trip today to see a player who starred at Riverside’s Martin Luther King High School and earned a scholarship to San Diego State.

They will cheer when Leonard is introduced as the Spurs’ starting small forward, and the most unassuming of Spurs players may smile for an instant.

“Yeah, I’m excited,” Leonard acknowledged after the Spurs’ 105-88 victory in Game 2 ran their playoff record to 6-0. “It’s the playoffs, and now I get to play close to home. I’m just ready to get on with it.”

In two games against the Clippers, Leonard has scored 21 points, grabbed 12 rebounds and made five steals while taking an occasional defensive turn on L.A.’s All-Star point guard, Chris Paul.

It is a role he never imagined a year ago, when he was just beginning to schedule workouts for lottery-bound teams enticed by his combination of length, quickness and defensive tenacity. Placed in the top 10 of the 2011 draft class in some pre-draft rankings, Leonard slipped some spots after he suffered a mild ankle sprain in a late pre-draft workout.

“I don’t think an injury like that (made me drop),” he said. “I just think the teams that didn’t draft me liked other players better. But I’m glad it worked out that way.

“I would never have imagined this, being with this team and (starting) in the playoffs. I wanted to always be on a winning team like this, and now I’m just living in the moment and just trying to play every game as hard as I can.”

Rolling role: A backup point guard by necessity, Gary Neal is adapting to his new game rhythm in a playoff series that demands more of Tony Parker’s time on the court.

Neal has played a total of 25:19 against the Clippers and taken only 10 shots, just four from beyond the 3-point arc. He has scored 12 points and committed a lone turnover.

“It’s a game-to-game thing,” Neal said. “I just try to do my best to stay ready. I don’t really have a role. With Tony playing 36 to 40 minutes at the point-guard spot, there’s really nowhere for me to play, not with Danny (Green) and Manu (Ginobili) at the two.

“When I get my opportunity to play, I just try to stay ready.”

Signed by the Spurs as a two (shooting) guard before the 2010-11 season, Neal became Parker’s backup after the injury retirement of veteran T.J. Ford in mid-March. He hasn’t forgotten how to be a shooting guard and looks forward to the time he can return to that role.

Meanwhile, he is perfectly content with whatever playoff role he is asked to assume.

“You can’t over-analyze,” he said. “This is a great team and a great organization. I would be an unwise character to complain or not be satisfied with my minutes, whatever they are, five minutes or 25 minutes.

“I’m just happy to be here, and I’ll keep trying to make the best of it, whatever it is.”

Going Green: After scoring an efficient 13 points in Game 2, Green is averaging 10.3 points through the Spurs’ six playoff games, fourth-best on the team.

All six of Green’s shots in Game 2 were from 3-point range, and he made four of them.

“You’ve got to be ready every time you’re open because you never know when your shots are going to come,” he said. “I know once it comes to me, I’d better be ready to shoot or catch-and-drive, make a move, and that’s what (coach Gregg Popovich) emphasizes to me every day, whether it’s practice or in the games.”